Subject:
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Rarest LEGO Parts from the 1950's
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.general
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Date:
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Mon, 5 Feb 2007 20:40:26 GMT
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Viewed:
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2439 times
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Most LEGO parts of the 1950's are relatively obscure for modern LEGO
collectors.
During the first half of the 1950's LEGO was only sold in Denmark (1949),
Sweden (for a short time in 1950, but reintroduced in 1955), and Norway
(1953). Lego started sales in other European countries in the last half of
the 1950's.... Germany (1956), Switzerland, Austria, Netherlands, Belgium and
Portugal (1957), Italy (1958), and France and Finland (1959). (NOTE: my years
don't match what the official LEGO timeline on the company website shows, but
I confirmed my dates with the LEGO Archive folks in Billund.) Go figure!
_____________________________
The rarest LEGO collectibles from that decade were sold from 1955-58.
One of the rarest was the 1x1 round brick (without tapered base) with the ESSO
Oil Drum sticker. This was only sold in Denmark from 1955-58, and was only
found in the Danish #1247 Esso parts pack (which contained 1 Esso freestanding
sign, 1 set of (3) gas pumps, and 3 oil drums), and the #1251 Esso Barrel
Truck (one 1:87 Bedford Esso truck and 2 oil drums). These very rare Esso Oil
drums were only found on red or white 1x1 round bricks, and came with either a
gold sticker or with a black sticker.
Here's an example of each from Clark Stephen's Brickshelf gallery:
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=2246468
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=2246469
Ironically the #1247 Esso parts pack and #1251 1:87 Esso Barrel Truck were
also sold in Norway and Sweden, but only the Danish version of these packs had
the oil drums.
These rare oil drums could sell for up to $200 each or more, depending on
condition.
______________________________
A 2nd very rare 1950's item is one that I never even seen a picture of. That
is the old flip-up garage base plate of 1955-70.... but in red. Here's a pic
of the plate, which is common in white and gray:
http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemPic.asp?P=820
These red garage baseplates were only found in a few #1235 (Garage parts
packs) and #1236 (Garage sets) of 1955-56. Most of those sets had white
plates, but a few had red ones. These were likely only sold in Denmark,
Norway and Sweden, but a few may have been found in a 1956 German #235 or #236
garage set. (Note: from 1956-58 northern Europe and central Europe had
different parts pack/model set numbers, with norther Europe having an
extra "1" at the beginning of the set number).
These red garage plates are so rare, that I would be speculating at a value.
These are virtually unknown even to European collectors. I would say that
$200 would be a fair value for a decent condition one in red.
Cheers,
Gary Istok
P.S. I discuss both of these rarities and others in my LEGO Sets/Parts
History CD - Chapter 32- LEGO GARAGES/SERVICE STATIONS & ACCESSORIES (1955-85)
along with pictures and discussions of many other old LEGO rarities.
(Also posting in Bricklink Forum)
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: Rarest LEGO Parts from the 1950's
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| (...) Hi Gary, I think this (and all your other recent similar posts) would be excellent additions to your "History of LEGO" page (URL) not sure who maintains that page, but it would be good if it had links to all these posts. It would also be good (...) (18 years ago, 5-Feb-07, to lugnet.general, lugnet.admin.general)
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